ABC gets $10m in extra funds

The government has topped up the ABC's coffers to the tune of $10 million, an investment it says will allow it to hire more staff and reach more audiences in regional Australia.

In an email to staff sent on Thursday, the ABC news director, Kate Torney, said the funding would allow the network to recruit specialist reporters, establish fact-checking and investigative units and appoint a freedom of information editor.

Managing director Mark Scott said: ''The ABC's news team will focus on increasing the ABC's original local content, acknowledging that in a fragmented market audiences want information from a trusted independent source that is available to all sections of the community.''